Love is a Beautiful and Painful Thing
by TheBlackSwanPrincess
Summary: In a once war written wasteland, life and love can come through and bloom. But nobody ever said it would be easy. There will be hardships and heartbreak along the way. But together 9 and 7 will discover that love is a beautiful and painful thing...*On hiatus till re-write is done*
1. 7 takes a Walk

**A/N: Hey everybody! This is my very first multi-chapter story ever posted up here! :D Sorry I was planning to upload it yesterday, but fanfiction was being weird, and it didn't let me. Anyways, it's here now, and this is the first chapter. Each chapter will be told from either 9, 7, or even the twins POV's. This is just a fluffy, kick things off chapter, in 7's POV. This will lead up to more interesting chapters, so please enjoy! Don't forget to drop a review. :3**

**9 is property of Shane Acker, not me.**

_Love is a Beautiful and Painful Thing…_

7's POV

The small trickles of sunlight pour through the small holes in my room, and some played on my face. I slowly but surely stirred, and for a moment, sucked in the pleasure of awakening to a new morning. But I couldn't dwindle on that thought forever, as I reminded myself there wasn't much time left.

I quickly but quietly sprang out of bed, and scanned the room for some necessary things before taking off. My eyes scanned the room, and feel upon a corner that my spear and skull helmet lay. I hastily grabed them, and headed out down the hall of the library.

The loud creaks of the old library as I took a first step, reminded me that I must stay quite. So I stealthily sneaked through, trying to make little to no noise.

I made a small stop by the twins' room, just to check up on them. They lay there in their bed, soundly sleeping. I smiled lightly to myself, the twins always left a special place in my heart, and I'm glad they were still peacefully asleep safe and sound. But that thought, only made me remember that I had to keep going.

I was almost to the long corridor at the end of the hall that led to the exit of the library, when I slowly began to slow down and freeze in front of a room. I slowly, and cautiously peeked inside. And there was 9, still asleep in his bed. I don't know why, maybe out of curiosity, or something else I'm too scared to admit, but I just stood there and watched.

A lot had happened since I had met 9. Changed, is a more appropriate word. Just a week ago I had met him. And he had awoken the machine, and 5 of my friends had died. It still stung inside to think about. For a while I had blamed it all on 9, but I slowly had understood that he hadn't known better, and he highly regretted his actions. And he made amends for them by freeing their souls to a better place. A lot of changes of just a short period of being with him. But one of the biggest changes I had noticed was, something in myself, something I just couldn't make out. A weird feeling, a feeling that brought me pleasure, and confused frustration at the same time. I tried to reject it like all my other feelings, but somehow it just wouldn't go away. And it always came up whenever I'm near 9, or even thinking about him. I stayed there watching him in a sort of trance for a while, while I let my thoughts flow.

_What I am doing?_ I thought abruptly. _What am I feeling? What's happening to me? _All these thoughts kept circling my mind to the point where I thought I might tip over overwhelmed, when I heard a moan snap me out of my thought.

It came from 9. _He must be waking up._ I realized, and then the whole purpose of what I was planning to do came back and I mentally kicked myself hard for getting distracted so easily. _I must go._ I told myself, and wasted no more time and quickly made my way out of the library before 9, or the twins woke completely.

The early morning sun beat on me, and refreshed my energy. I wanted to take a quick run around the emptiness to ease my troubles, and clear my head. Being out and about, jumping form place to place, is part of who I am and I enjoyed doing it.

I jumped on top of a large pile of rubble, to see how far I wanted to go. I light breeze was kicking up on tip, and it felt nice and refreshing. I surveyed the war scarred landscape and chose a route to take. Judging by the distance, I shouldn't take long, so 9 and the twins won't have a reason to worry.

I leap down from my post, and landed solidly on the ground. I was confident on my plan, and was looking forward to it, when a voice rang through my head diverted my attention to it.

"7?" the voice called and I knew instantly it was 9. Well things suddenly took a turn for the unexpected. 9 was already up? I must have lingered outside the door to his room to long. I cursed myself heavily for that, and made my way over to him.

I lifted up my helmet to reveal my face and greeted him as usual.

"Morning 9." I tried to state calmly.

"Good morning 7." He said back, with a somewhat uneasy smile on his face.

"Are you going for a walk?" he asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Yes, just a quick one, I'll be back before you know it." I said hastily, I wanted to take a nice run **alone** to clear my head, and I was already losing time. The run wouldn't be so pleasant with the early morning sun gone, and the afternoon sun cooking my fabric instead.

"Oh, mind if I go with you? The twins are still asleep, and I feel like I want to clear my head." He asked.

I groaned inside. This is not what I had planned at all. I wanted to clear my mind of 9 for a while, but I don't think that could be possible with him walking right next to me. But when I looked in his eyes, I knew he only had good intentions, and only wanted to clear his mind as well. So I lost the battle, and sighed quietly, and turned to face him. I found myself losing more and more battles when he was involved.

"Sure 9. You can come. Just be light on your feet, I don't walk at a normal pace." I told him, and he lightly chuckled at my comment, then smiled and said.

"Thanks 7. I'll be sure to keep up." I smiled back, I enjoyed watching his face turn up in a smile. It made me feel-_Wait. What am I thinking?_ I quickly snapped out of it for a second. I seriously began to rethink this idea. I pulled down my skull helmet to hide my face and took off without a word. I hoped 9 would take my advice seriously, because when I take off, I **take off**. Especially when something is on my mind.

9 actually surprised me, and did a pretty good job keeping up. For most of the walk( well run considering my speed) I stayed well in front though, and did say a word to him, pretending to not acknowledged him. But he was always there. No matter how much I tried to forget, or clear my mind of him, he refused to budge. _Why?_ I kept thinking to myself. I knew the answer was there somehow, but some part of me kept refusing to see it. Could it possibly be my fear?

_**NO.**_ I screamed to myself in my thoughts. I refused to accept fear. It always made me, weak, and if I was weak, I would lose everything I ever cared for.

I dwindled on that thought, resting heavily on my mind, when I began to notice something. The light pitter patter of feet seemed to be decreased only to my own. I made myself halt and turn around, fearing that I had left 9 behind.

But he was still there; he was just sitting on a stray brick, looking exhausted. Well now I felt awful, I was so caught up in my thoughts I ignored the fact that 9 is not as agile and doesn't have as much endurance as me. I slapped myself mentally for being so selfish, and made my way over to him.

"Are you alright?" I asked, quite concerned, I loomed over him, but eventually sat down next to him while he caught his breathe to answer.

"Oh, yeah I'm-*breathes in heavily* I'm fine, I just need to sit for a while…." He said, still quite out of breathe. I only felt worse.

"I'm sorry…." I said in shame, "I guess I just let myself get carried away-" I tried to continue but he cut me off.

"No it's ok 7. I needed the exercise anyways." He said, sounding much better, but rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment of saying he was out of shape.

I gave a small smile and an even tinier chuckle. He can be so dorky at times. Now I gave him a bigger smile, and motioned for him to get up.

"I think you've had enough exercise for a lifetime," I teased. Then looked up at the sky, it was already early afternoon, and the sun was beginning to get hot, the light warmth, now turned into sharp heat against my fabric.

"We should be heading back now." I said sternly, and then faced him.

"We've been gone for a while, and the twins could start to worry."

"Alright." He said simply. But I could tell he wanted to say something else.

"What is it?" I asked, wanting to know what was on his mind. I didn't like seeing him troubled, it's bad enough for me, it must be a whole lot worse for him, seeing as how he feels more burdens than me.

"Um, I was just going to ask…" He started, nervous and uneasy. He always seemed that way whenever he wanted to say something to me. I didn't understand why, I mean, why would I make him so nervous?

But that unsettle-y reminded me of how I get whenever I want to talk to him about something serious, and it made me dizzy for a moment. _What could that mean?_ But once again, I couldn't allow myself to venture for the truth for some reason, but I'd think about it later.

He sighed, and seemed more confident to talk, and said right to the point,

"Would you mind, actually walking with me all the way back, so we can…talk?"

Well, I was shocked to say the least. Not to mention a bit nervous at his request. I wondered what would happen and what we would actually talk **about.** And it made my heart race for a second, as possible subjects rang through my mind. But I snapped myself back to reality and told myself this was none sense. I shouldn't feel, nervous or worried. _It's just a talk with 9!_

"OK…" was all I could say. I tried to sound confident, given my recent thoughts, but I couldn't shake the feeling that even if it was just a talk with 9, it still had deeper meaning.

We walked for, what seemed to me an eternity, without saying a word, when 9 started to talk.

"7, do you ever, feel…..sad? About what happened to the others?" he asked timidly but still strong enough to assure that he wanted an answer. And he waited, looking anticipant with those always curios eyes of his.

_Did I ever feel __**sad **__about the others? _The question sunk down. _Well, I didn't feel sad! I felt __**much**__ worse than that! I considered them part of my family and now they were all dead!_

I sighed, I knew I could never say that to 9. So I told him what I thought would satisfy him.

"Yes, sometimes, when I think about it to much…."

But 9 seemed to have this disapproving look in his eyes, like he knew that wasn't how I felt. He took in a heavy breath, and sighed. He shook his head as he responded solemnly.

"I know it's much worse than that…" his words puncturing right through me.

"It's all my fault. I'll always hurt what I try to help….." He hung his head, not wanting to face me. It all tugged at my heart. I couldn't bear to see him like this. I knew I would screw this talk up with him. I never know what to say. But I just knew I had to try and make him feel better, so I tried to say as best I could.

"9, you saved us. The other's might have died, but it wasn't at your hand. It was the machine. It wanted to destroy all life. But you were the only one to stop, you saved me and the twins. We would ALL be dead, and the Earth would remain a lifeless wasteland if it wasn't for you. We couldn't be here without you." I said. But 9 gave another deflated sigh.

"But, I-" he tried to argue, but I cut him off, determined to change his mind, I would not let myself continue to pretend that everything was alright, while he was dying inside. Because, I couldn't help but feel this connection, as if, if he died inside, then…I would to. So with this determined feeling, I found inspiration, and looked around the emptiness, until my eyes landed on a lose gear from a dismantled clock.

I made my way over to it.

"7? What are you doing?" He asked, seeing as how he knew I wasn't the foraging type. I rarely looked for useful things in the emptiness, unless I could be build a weapon out of it, but this new feeling was driving me to do this, I was going to do it.

As I was pulling the small gear lose, I found a nice piece of wire hanging from the inner workings of the clock. I cut it lose, and took the gear out as well, and made my way back to him.

"I don't understand…" 9 said trying to comprehend what was going on when I presented the items to him. Heck, I didn't even know what was going on, but this feeling would not stop driving me to perform these actions. And somehow, I didn't want to fight the feeling.

"See these parts." I gestured to them with my free hand. 9's face still showed a hint of confusion, but he still tried to understand.

"I had to take them from a clock. I had to sacrifice the parts of a clock, so it won't ever be the same clock with the parts missing." 9's face fell as I explained, seeming to get my metaphor. It made me feel bad, but I pressed on.

"But, with the parts that I still have, I could create something new for the world. But I never could do it, if I hadn't taken from the clock." I didn't think it was some great wise explanation that will make him understand, but it was the best that I could do. I could only hope that he understood.

His face seemed to light up, and he gave a small smile to me. He seemed a lot better than he was before.

"Thanks 7." He said, grateful, I felt a million times better. I somehow out of breathe when he looked at me a smiled.

_Wait 7._ I warned myself._ Don't lose yourself in this…._ I tried to fight the feeling I always feel when I'm with 9, but no matter how hard I tried, it still remained.

I stared awkwardly at the objects still in my hand, trying to break the awkwardness by saying, not really directly at 9, but more to myself.

"I could never build something out of this." I chuckled at myself. "I can only build weapons…" I seemed a bit disappointed in myself, I felt bad that I couldn't be as imaginative as 9, and build something that wasn't meant for destruction.

I looked up at him, and offered him the pieces.

"But maybe you could?"

9 gave a sincere smile and clutched my hands with the objects still in them.

"We can build something together." He said, more than suggested, but I couldn't argue, seeing as how I was still flustered by his motion of clutching my hands in his. When we found a nice rock to sit on, I finally turned to him and stated,

"9, I don't think I can…"I said apologetically, but 9 cut in.

"Then I'll help you. Remember we'll do this together." He said, and it sent shivers down my spine, for some reason that I still would not allow myself to face.

I stared hard at the parts, but no ideas came to mind. I felt bad that I couldn't please 9 and make something he would love, but as I looked at him to try once more to explain why I couldn't do this, and idea suddenly sprang in my mind.

I looked at the wire, and took it in my hand. Then I grabbed the small gear, and stuck the wire through it.

"If I stick the wire through here…." I said out loud. Then 9 took the other end of the wire, and pulled it up.

"And if I take this part here…" he said excitedly, he must have known what I was planning to make, because that was exactly what I was going to do next. We then both pulled it both ends of the wire up and we said in unison,

"And if we tie both ends up here…." And after we did, it was complete. We had made a small little gear necklace. It looked nice, and it was comforting to know it was the first thing we built together. We smiled at each other after we were done, and held each other's gaze for a long time. I seemed to forget the world for a moment, not really caring about anything else but 9.

Then my inner voice started to kick and scream until it slapped me back to reality. And I felt so afraid of what had just happened. I couldn't explain it, and I wasn't letting myself find the answer to it. I looked away from him, and looked down at the necklace.

Then 9 placed his hand over it, and took it.

"What are you-?" I wondered what he was doing.

"Just hold on," he reassured me. Then he took the necklace over my head and placed it around my neck.

I looked at it, and then looked back at 9.

"You look beautiful." He said, and I blushed like an idiot, but smiled back.

"Thank you." I whispered, more than said. Then I looked up at the sky, and noticed it was later than I thought. The sun was not as hot as before, it was more of a faded simmer, and it was lower in the sky than before. Which only meant it was late afternoon.

"Oh no." I said, worry wavering through my voice.

"It's later than I thought. We need to head back; the twins must be very worried by now." 9 nodded his head in agreement, and we both made our way back.

Despite our haste, the necklace dangling from my neck, will always be a reminder of this day. How it went so unplanned, but still turned out to be a wonderful day. No matter how much my inner voice disapproved. I will always treasure the necklace in memory, as one of the best days I have ever had.

**A/N: End of chapter. I hope you guys liked the fluff as much as I did. :D I'll upload the second chapter as soon as I can. Please, don't forget to leave a review!**


	2. 9 is Conflicted

**A/N: Wow, this chapter is way overdue. ^^; Sorry, I've just felt really depressed over these past days, and I really didn't have the enthusiasm to type all this up. But now it's done, and I actually like how it came out. It's in 9's POV, and he and 7 are just returning to the library, when 9 makes a realization. The twins way of acting was greatly inspired by me and my brother, (yes 4 is a girl in this :P) and by Barn Owl Girl's (who has been a great supporter, and friend) way of portraying them. Hope you enjoy, and please leave a review! ^^**

**9 is property of Shane Acker, not me.**

Though my feet were firmly on the ground, and my intentions were to climb up the front steps of the crumbled library, I felt like I was going to sore of the ground into the sky, and my mind had run off somewhere else, with many thoughts.

It made my heart race just merely trying to recall what had happened this morning. It had all started with a simple request, to go on a walk with 7, but it had gone so unsuspectingly wonderful. I had seen her walk outside, and stand in the breeze, looking majestic, as she always does. I had stared in a trance, so blinded by her grace and beauty, as she jumped down from a pile of rubble so flawlessly. She looked as if she was ready to set on her course for her walk, when something in me, seemed to compel me, to go and ask her if I could join her. I had thought I was insane, and just wasting her time by asking, but my heart skipped a beat when she accepted.

At first I thought I was just a nuisance to 7, trailing behind her, barely being able to keep up. And then I had thought I had ruined her walk entirely when I started to plop all my troubles about the mistake I had made which had doomed all our friends on her. I felt like an idiot for purposely worrying her, but I had so much guilt clogging me up, I was afraid if I didn't get it out, I would implode with it.

I didn't expect any sympathy from her. I fact I expected her to be mad at me for mentioning that, but I quickly regretted ever thinking that 7 would do such a cruel thing, for she mended me up, with such powerful imagery and words, that could only come from her. That's one of the things that make 7 so amazing. You'd expect her to be the brave warrior, always protecting and staying self-dependent, but when it comes to one of her friends, she shows her wisdom and kindness, in the most beautiful way.

"9? Are you coming?" 7's voice broke me from my thoughts, and pulled me back to reality. I was so deep in my thoughts, I had ignored the fact that I had to climb up the steps.

I looked up to face 7. She had her hand outstretched, offering to help me up. The setting sun against her back made her glow, in an angelic sort of way. I stood there just enchanted by all her beauty. Ever since I met her, she had been the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. In fact, she looked even more beautiful every day I saw her, if that was even possible.

A light twinkle of the sun's reflection on something caught my eye for a moment, and it turned out to be the gear necklace still dangling from 7's neck.

That perhaps, was the best part of the walk we had today. 7 had used the parts, as a metaphor for explaining how, sometimes, you have to sacrifice somethings from the past, in order for new things to be created. Hence referring back to how my mistake. It had made so much sense, it immediately made me feel better. 7 always managed to amaze me with her many gifts. But what caught me by surprise was, that she mentioned she couldn't make the parts into something useful. She had been so unconfident in her skills, it surprised me that she had that side to her, I was even more surprised that she'd showed **me** that side of her.

It did make me smile, seeing this sweet side of her. It just made me want to help her see, what lovely things her hands could create. And it was one of the most glorious experiences I've had in my life. The necklace she wears around her neck will always remind me of a moment we shared together.

I snapped myself out of my memories, no matter how much I didn't want to, but I knew I couldn't let 7 wait forever. I took her hand, but didn't meet her gaze, for I was too busy staring at reality behind everything I feel for 7.

"_9, what have you gotten yourself into?"_ I thought to myself. _"You've fallen in love."_

When we finally reached the entrance of the library, there had been an awful silence I think I might have caused between us. I didn't look or even _think_ about looking in her direction the rest of the trip up the stairs. I couldn't help it, the turmoil of all my feelings, and realizations had been spinning around my head to the point where I simply _couldn't_ face her.

"You better prepare yourself 9." 7 stated, attempting to break the silence.

"When the twins get worried, they _**get worried**_. So don't be surprised if they start questioning you about ridiculous things." I chuckled at 7's remark. She certainly had broken the tension.

"No I'm serious 9." She said trying to sound serious again, but I could see traces of a smile tugging at the ends of her lips. I smiled, at how 7 has so many sides to her, and treasured the little moment, because if I know anything about 7, those different sides to her don't come out very often.

It turns out 7 wasn't kidding, the when the twins came to greet us, they were flickering their lights so many times, and so furiously fast, that I feared I might go blind just trying to figure out what they were saying. But I could make out that they were clearly worried and upset.

"_Where __**were **__you? You were gone for the whole day!"_ I managed to make out what 4 was saying, and she seemed very upset.

"_We were afraid you'd gotten hurt, or a beast had taken you away!"_ 3 said, seeming equally as upset as his sister.

I had grown very attached to the twins since I had met them, and I hated to see them so worried. I tried to calm them down.

"Listen, we're sorry we didn't tell yo-"but it seemed my attempt to calm them down had no purpose, since now the twins seemed to have completely forgotten about their upset and worried state, and were now eagerly surrounding 7, their interest now caught on something else.

"_It's so pretty!"_ I made out 4 saying.

"_And its structure is very unique!"_ 3 added. Now I could tell that they were cataloging 7's necklace. I was glad to see their old nerves had gone, and now they were in their normal mood, and happily doing what they loved again.

"_Did you make this?"_ I caught 4 asking 7.

"Well, actually me and 9 made it together." 7 answered, and she offered me a smile, that just made it seem like the world had stopped spinning.

"_Aww! How sweet…" _4 blinked, a seemingly a little too dreamily, which caused me and 7 to break out in a light blush. 3 shook his head disapprovingly at his sister.

"_4 please…."_ He remarked, and went back to examining the necklace, and 4 followed suite.

Actually 4's statement made a previous thought whirl back inside my mind. As I watched 7 smile at the twins, seeing how much she cared for them, just made the pang of it all seem more real. I sighed silently.

"_So, you're in love with 7…."_ I guess I always knew. The way she made me feel couldn't compare to anything else. When the twins allowed me to browse around their books one day, I had stumbled upon a story about love. At first I didn't understand, but when it started to flow, and when I thought of 7 when I read, I instantly knew. I just didn't want to come to terms with it just yet. Why now? I don't know, but it must mean _something._ I have to go and find out more.

"Well, I'm going to go…." I stumbled through my sentence awkwardly. "Is, i- is it ok, if, you know I can read one of your books 3 and 4?" I asked, sounding more and more like an idiot. "BE-because, I have nothing else to do, and…" I added hastily and trailed off. I mentally smacked myself for sounding so stupid.

"_Yes, go on ahead."_ 4 blinked without even looking at me, to absorbed on cataloging every detail on the necklace. I then wasted no time, and hurried to where the twins kept their books, knowing that light was fading fast.

I searched every book on every shelf, an nothing seemed to help me. I had completely forgotten what I had done with the last book I read some time ago, and that seemed like the only book of use to me. With the tiniest bit of light from the sunset seeping into the many holes on the library's roof now fading, I was giving up hope to find the right book. I turned on my heel and left, head down in shame that I couldn't fulfill my plan. Then I suddenly found myself tripping and hitting the floor face first.

I groaned at the pain, and looked back as I got up to see what I had tripped on. It was a stray book that I hadn't seen before. I felt a glint of hope as I turned it over the best I could to look at the tittle.

"_Love is a Beautiful and Painful Thing…"_ the cover said. I gave a silent leap of joy as I had found the book I was looking for. I opened it, and started to flip through the pages aimlessly, not really sure what I was looking for. Nothing really seemed to help, just a bunch of definitions that I had already read before. As I was about to close the book with a sigh, having given up on finding anything useful, a page flipped open, and it showed a simple 2 lined statement. I looked at it curiously and read it.

"_If you love something, set it free…"_ How those words spoke to me. I loved 7, I know knew that, and these words were bitter sweet, because I understand that if you love something enough, you'll be willing to let it be free, and living with letting it go, possibly at the risk of it never coming back. But you loved it so much, so couldn't bear to see it unhappy and locked away. It really stung, because 7 is like that. She loves to be free and on her own limits. I guess telling her how I feel might just tie her down. And I couldn't live with myself if I did that to her. Taking away her freedom and happiness. I whimpered silently, so torn on what to make of this. But I reminded myself, there was still one line left. I braced myself and read it.

"_And if it comes back, it's meant to be."_ I swear, I felt like I couldn't breathe for a moment. Now this last line brought whole new meaning to my situation. This I get means that, if you give the thing you love, it's freedom, you also give it the freedom to make a choice, and if it chooses to come back to you, then it must love back.

My mind and heart raced, _what if 7 loves me back?_ But then doubt set itself right down in front of me. I began to think. _Why would 7 love me? She's to beautiful, strong, independent, intelligent, the list could go on forever. And what am I? Just some useless, stupid waste of life. She deserves so much more._

The light was now almost completely gone, except for this one ray of light that I noticed. And that small ray, sparked my hope. _But you'll never know…._ Now I felt more lost than ever. I wasn't sure, exactly what to do anymore. Now it was night, and I got up and decided to call it a night. I've had enough for today. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some solution tomorrow. I walked out of the twins book area and walked all the way back to my room to plop sown into bed, careful not to bump into 7, or the twins. But what I wasn't careful of was checking to see if I'd even thought of putting the book away. But to tired and overwhelmed to care, I simply let it go.

_Tomorrow I'll handle things…._

**A/N Wow, what a sucky way to end the chapter huh? Well, just to mention, the tittle of the book 9 was reading inspired the tittle of this story. It's not a real book, but I thought the tittle I came up with was neat, so I decided to use it as the tittle of the story. Well, pointlessness aside, leave a review? I would really appreciate it! Next chapter will be up soon. ^^**


	3. 3 Joins the Charade

**A/N: Hello there! Well, you probably thought I was dead, for not updating for like more than an entire week, but fear not I am alive! I just had an accident, something to do with my back, had to go to the emergency room and all that drama. Turns out I wasn't going to be able to move for a while, so that set me back. But I'm feeling loads better now, so I figured it's about TIME I updated. This chapter is written from 3's POV, (because it's chapter 3, :D) and the next one will be written from 4's POV. Yup, all about the twins for these next chapters. And it IS 3 appreciation month over at the 9 forum, so why not? I portray 3 here as the intellectual older brother, who secretly longs to be just as ditzy as his twin sister. (4 is portrayed as my inner 9x7 fan girl. ^^) So enough with my nonsense! On with the story!**

**9 is owned by Shane Acker, not me, though I WISH it was mine.**

After it got late, 7 urged us to call it a night and rest.

"_Oh no, that fine."_ I flashed at her reassuringly.

"_4 and I want to read a little more before we head off."_

"_Yes, you go ahead. I'm sure 9's already asleep as well, you 2 were out all day, you should do the same and rest. Don't worry we'll be fine." _4 added backing me up. We were both eager to go back to our books. We were so caught up with worry all day, that we just couldn't seem to focus on reading.

"Alright, if you're sure…" 7 said, still sounding a little unsure. To further convince her, I nodded my head vigorously, 4 mimicking my actions.

"Alright, ok." 7 said, letting out a small chuckle, releasing her worries for a moment. That relieved me; I never like to see 7 worried over us. She's like, a mother to 4 and I. We've always been close, she's always looked over us and cared for us with her life, and I feel like we and her have a special bond.

Even today, we were so worried when she and 9 were nowhere to be found. We had tried not to panic, thinking that 7 was a very skilled warrior and that she would be perfectly fine, but we still couldn't help but worry. Not even the comforts of our books could tame our uneasiness.

But then she had come back, and of course, she had been perfectly fine. She had even gotten a new item, that 4 and I couldn't help but catalog. Though I did notice some weird behavior radiating off of 9, 7 seemed a bit uncomfortable herself. I couldn't help but think that their strange behavior had something to do with their time alone together, and it happened to be all tied into the necklace they had made together. But I quickly shoved that thought aside.

_Your beginning to sound like 4, 3._ I had thought to myself, and made myself focus on making 7 feel more comfortable again. I had suggested that we go to the globe where 4 and I kept our most prized books and collections of things we had cataloged and go read, but 4 flashed at me worriedly.

"_But 3, have you forgotten 9's in there? Something tells me he wants to be alone." _I had then take this into account, and decided to change to the location.

"_Or, how about by the painting near the entrance? It's always been a soothing place for me, especially with such an elaborate piece of art." _

"Anywhere is fine with me." 7 had said, sounding a little distant as she looked back at the globe for a moment before we set off towards the painting.

When we had finally reached the painting, 4 found a stray, thick book cover that we could sit on. 7 went over to it and dragged in place, so we all got comfortable and sat down in front of the art.

We couldn't really think of anything to say, and I had begun to regret ever suggesting doing this. 7 had become more and more difficult to figure out over these past couple of weeks. 4 and I thought we had finally figured her out, but now, it seems like she has so many masks, I fear we will never reach the true 7.

"You know, I never really paid much attention to this piece of art." 7 had broken the silence for a moment.

"But, it's a really nice work. But, what do I know? You guys are the experts." She then continued to add, ruffling my hood a little. It's something that I try to trick myself into not enjoying, but really, I wish she would do it more often.

"What do you guys think of it?" she had asked. 7 has never been truly interested in all the things 4 and I learn, but she always listened, and we took every opportunity we could to inform her of our knowledge.

"_Well, the technique of the brush is most unique, it seems to follow a pattern of-"_ but I was then cut off when I caught some flashing out of my peripheral.

"_What is it 4?"_ I had blinked questioningly at her. It wasn't like her to interrupt or add on to what I was explain until I stopped. When I had looked over at her across from 7, she was pointing up towards 7, gesturing me to see her. When I looked up, I noticed that, she had in fact NOT listening,(well, technically watching) me, and instead had been fooling around with the necklace she and 9 had made.

"_Maybe we should take the necklace away.._" I had probed with a suggestion suggestion at her as I reached to rake the necklace away. 7 is acting a lot different than the 7 4 and I were used to, and I was slightly worried, and thought removing the necklace would help.

"No." 7 had said, not necessarily harshly, but firmly. I then drew back my hand. Then I began to feel like, I had the pieces to solve the mystery behind 7's new behavior, but my mind just didn't know how to put them together.

"_You really like that necklace, don't you 7?"_ 4 had then flashed, seeming to me at that moment that she was doing so with a slight tease.

"Yes, it..it uh- means a lot to me." 7 had stated, letting lose a small smile, but it was gone just as quick as it appeared. But I smiled at the thought of her smiling. It was always so rare for 7 to open up like that, and I'm always happy to see it.

4 then had made a dreamy face, that seemed to make click some of the pieces together in my brain, _if it means a lot to her, and she had made it with 9…_ I bit my lip to refrain from gasping, and shot 4 a glare. All she had done then was innocently shrug her shoulders at me. I then shook my head disapprovingly, because I had already known what her thoughts had been. But I couldn't have helped the small smile that I had then covered up, because secretly, I had always had my same suspicions about 9 and 7 as 4 has, I just hated to admit it.

7 then began to get up, and she had stated, "Well, it was nice spending some time with you guys again. But it's now very late. Where has the time gone." She had mumbled the last part seemingly more to herself.

"You guys ready to call it a day?" She had suggested looking at us eager for an answer, and here we are now, dismissing her to go let her join in her dreams, while we stayed up a little longer for the sake of our books.

As we watched her disappear down the corridor to her room, the last bit of light finally faded. But 4 and I know this place as well as we know each other, so finding our way back to the globe was no problem.

"_I think we were right, 9 is already gone."_ 4 noted, as she found no candle light anywhere, which would signify that 9 would still be here reading. I nodded taking it into account to, and made my way to our make shift elevator. 4's footsteps soon came towards me, signaling that she was ready for me to operate the mechanism. I wasn't entirely sure_ which _bookshelf I was leading us towards, but I figured it wouldn't matter. 4 and I will read anything.

We both made our way off the elevator and onto the bookshelf; I searched with my hands to see where I was going.

"_4, I think this is the bookshelf we-_"I was beginning to blink to 4 when I found myself face to face with the hard wood of the bottom part of a bookshelf. I groaned in pain. And I could hear the clicks of 4's optics, in what I could only guess was giggling.

"_Wow 3, I never noticed how much of a klutz you are."_ 4 blinked at me, I could barely make out her outline, and the light flashing from her eyes, ignited the tiniest bit of light through the dark.

I wish she could see the glare I was giving her.

"_I must have tripped over something…"_ I said trying to get up.

"_I'll go grab a candle." _4 said before she took off in search of a candle.

_Good luck._ I thought to myself. _It'll take her forever to find one in this darkness._ I diverted my attention to the area where I had tripped for a second, and my curiosity led me to reach out in the darkness in search of what had tripped me. My hands clasped at something thick and, as I tried to pick it up, heavy. I automatically knew once I felt the texture of its outside and it wrinkled pages on the inside, what it was.

"_It's a book!"_ I exclaimed in flashes to myself for some reason. Then I heard the footsteps of 4 coming up to me.

"_Here's the candle."_ 4 blinked at me triumphantly as she stuck the match against her feet, something 2 had taught us, and lite the candle, letting a soft glow of light flow through the dark room. I can't believe it but she had managed to find a candle. I sometimes tend to underestimate my sister, but when she always cowers behind me when something spooks her, I can't really blame myself. But she certainly had gathered up more confidence then when we were younger.

"_It's a book!"_ 4's flashes brought my attention back to reality.

"_Right."_ I flashed back at my twin, taking in that I had already discovered that. Then something else clicked into my thoughts.

"_Do you think 9 might have left it here when he was reading?"_ I shared my realization with her, awaiting her input.

"_Why, I think you're right brother!"_ 4 exclaimed, but then an even more shocked, yet pleased expression of joy leapt into her face.

"_And if he did, look at the tittle!"_ She would have screamed if we could talk using verbal sounds. I looked over at the book, and biting my clothed lips was all I could to retain almost the same joy my sister had expressed.

The tittle read, "_Love is a Beautiful and Painful Thing."_ And 4 then blinked excitedly the already obvious to me.

"_They're in LOVE! How wonderful!" _4 happily proclaimed anyway, and I half expected her to start prancing around the place, but she retained herself.

I on the other hand, felt a bit uneasy about this. 7, again, is like a mother to me, and I want her to be happy. And 9, well, I never really thought about it, but he is sort of like, a father figure to us. Could this really be true? I felt a small bit of enthusiasm, not nearly as much as my twin, but still, the idea pleased me.

"_Oh 3! We simply MUST try and help them get together!"_ 4 suddenly threw this suggestion straight at my face.

"_But 4,"_ I felt uneasy about the subject, and I couldn't really grasp the concept behind what she was suggesting.

"_3, haven't you noticed? They both seem like they're not going to open up and confess to each other without help. And you always say that 7 is like our mother. And we want her to be happy. And I'm sure by the observations you and I made today, 9 seems to make her __very__ happy. And…I kinda like the idea of him being our father figure." _4 finished, admitting it a bit sheepishly. But I couldn't blame her. This was a lot for me to come into terms with, and it all seemed quite overwhelming, but at the same time, a sense of glee swept over me. I just didn't quite know how to let it flow outward so impulsively like 4 always did. I used to think all her relentless obsession with this "romance" was her just being childish, but now giving it more thought, it came into a new light for me.

"_Alright 4. I guess we can-"_ I started to flash to her, but I was cut off by her frantic flashes and jumping up and down. Then it dawned on me, that 4 can be very, _over impulsive_ over this sort of thing. I remember back when it was our first few years of living in the library and we spent all our time just idling over our new endless books that we simply _had_ to read. And I made quite a few observations as to how 4 would lean more towards the romance themed books, and how excited she would get while reading them. I think logically that it's because of her feminism, but thinking I myself as a male, that she has a loose screw. Though I feel comfortable, and sometimes even enjoy some romance, 4 just takes it to a whole new level.

"_Oh 3, thank you! How I've been thinking about this for quite some time! I already have an idea! We could build like, a uh- a balcony! Yes a balcony like in "__Romeo and Juliet__!" Yes one of Shakespeare's best works! And then, wait till moonlight, to make the mood just right! And then-" _4 began to flash as if she were babbling nonsense. I was quick to cut her off.

"_Whoa, 4, SLOW DOWN. Calm down for a second!"_ I flashed violently to get her to stop, and put further gestures, like waving my hands in front of her, to just simply make her stand still for a moment.

She gave me, and somewhat cowered stare of confusion, and I sighed, thinking heavily on how to put what I was about to explain, in a manner that wouldn't upset my sister.

"_4, please listen for a second. I know you're excited. I am too, believe me, I've never thought to take action on such a thing before. Let alone I've barely just started to come into terms with it, but we still have to THINK for a second before we mindlessly start doing something we don't fully understand."_

My twin seemed to put an end her mindless indulgence for a moment and started to look like she realized that she had to in fact, actually reason on what to do.

"_We can't really PUSH this into motion 4," _I continued, careful to keep expressing it to her in a way that neither upsets her, or puts her in a position which makes her feel like I'm saying this condescendingly.

"_You have to understand that, 9 and 7 aren't just magically going to proclaim their love for each other, and then we can go and prance in the daisies and call it a happy ending. These things take time, and are supposed to happen naturally."_ 4 seemed a bit deflated after I finished, looking quite glum. I never liked to see her that way. In fact, I was partially struck hard by this to, I to just wanted us all to live happily together. But I couldn't ignore the facts, we could actually make things a lot worse than we would intend to. Someone always has to look at the facts, and I don't want my sister to lose the flair of fantasy, and ability to actually believe in miracles, so I took it upon myself to take that burden. No matter how much I always wanted to be able to believe in things.

I sighed once more, but I was determined to add on this last part of my speech.

"_But…" _I flashed, which automatically made 4 perk up a bit.

"_We CAN do something. Given 7's many masks she hides behind, the chances of her coming out of her shell soon are very minimal. And taking into account 9's strange behavior, it could also mean it will take even LONGER. I think subtle things we can manipulate to help them are of the many. So, I still second the motion of putting a plan into action."_ I finished with a smile, preparing for the burst of joy 4 was about to release, but even preparing, 4's tackle hug still came as quite a surprise for me.

"_Thank you brother! I'm so glad we can still do SOMETHING to help!"_ 4 flashed over joyed as she released me.

"_Yes 4, but remember, don't go over the top."_ I flashed back at her, in a somewhat of a teasing warning tone.

"_I won't 3, I promise. But….I may need your help…"_ 4 admitted sheepishly again. I shook my head to hid a smile, and flashed at her,

"_Don't worry, we'll do this together. Somehow we'll make this happen." _I reassured her.

After a while of debating and planning on what we should do, 4 and I had devised a plan. We were going to ask 9 and 7 if we could all go for a walk together, and run by the Scientists house. There, we would go in, and slip away, finding something else to do, which would seem like typical behavior for us to them, so then they would be forced to have some alone time to talk.

I know, it's not much of a plan, nothing to elaborate, but the candle light was now dying down, nearly all the wax from the candle was melted down, also signaling that it must be VERY late by now. So we had to take a rest. Anyways, our plans have to have certain subtly to them.

"_Good night sister."_ I flashed goodnight to her.

"_Goodnight brother."_ She flashed goodnight back, too tired to go all the way back to our rooms we decided to just sleep over a book and stay in the globe.

I slowly let my optics draw shut, and hoped for something to happen tomorrow, not out of logic, but out of fantasy. 

**A/N: 0o0 Things are finally going to be set in motion! Yes, this story is going to be very slow paced at the beginning, just bear with me, all the drama and action will kick off soon enough. So review? I'd very much appreciate it! As long as nothing happens to me for some weird reason, I'll hopefully have chapter 4 up soon. ^^**


	4. 4 has Hope

**A/N: …..Hi! *cowers back in fear* Umm, sorry if it seems like I disappeared off the face of guys. I was quite busy for a while, and this was such a long chapter to me…^^; I hope you can forgive my laziness. Well, this time this chapter is about our lovely 4. It's also 4 appreciation month over at the 9 forum so. Anyway, much like 4 in this chapter, this idea has been bugging me for a while with the story, so I changed the course of the story a bit to so it can lead up to MUCH bugger events later, so once again bear with me and this stories extremely slow pace. And might I add that, I felt it was necessary to write this chapter, to show that 4 is more than just a ditzy fangirl. I wanted to make it clear that she has more depth in this story. I actually made it a bit more depressing then funny like I wanted it to turn out, but oh well. Also, FLUFF is abound in the next chapter, and you can put your own little shout out within the next chapter IF you can tell me where the Hotel Mario quote is. Well, with all that said, onto the story!**

**Disclaimer~ I do NOT own the "9" as much as I would like to though, it and its characters belong to Shane Acker.**

"Morning brother!" I flashed excitedly, jolting awake my once peacefully sleeping twin.

3 looked up, not looking very pleased.

"Morning? More like the dead of night." He remarked and slowly began to get up.

"Why did you wake me?" he questioned me, and I smiled apologetically at him.

"Sorry 3, but I felt like this is the best time to put my-" I cut myself off, then corrected myself, "OUR plan, into action." I finished flashing at a now confused looking 3.

"Right NOW? But I thoug-" I quickly raised my hand to cut him off and waved away his confusion.

"I know, I know what we discussed and agreed to, but after thinking about it for a while, I thought it would be best if we started it now, before 9 and 7 even think to wake up." I explained. This thought I had not too long ago had been pestering me for a while after we decided to go to sleep.

"Why?" 3 still questioned, looking like he was not going to be satisfied until he got my _full_ explanation.

I sighed, but answered, "Think about it. If we DO set out with them to scientist's quarters, don't you think they would be suspicious of what our intensions are? I mean, I know we were tired and all, but requesting to go to the scientists house out of the blue is a little far-fetched.

My point seemed to make a tiny bit of realization glint in 3's optics, as he looked down in thought. He then nodded his head slowly.

"Besides," I began to add, "If we go now, we might find another good idea, perhaps if we discover an…object. Yes an object! We could go hide it somewhere, and then send them out to retrieve it for us as a favor!" I mused at these thoughts, feeling quite proud of how I managed to come up with such a good reasonable plan in such a rush.

"Yes, that is quite clever sister! I like it. Much more reasonable then our other plan." 3 flashed approvingly while nodding his head to emphasize his approval. But he suddenly stopped and let out a small gasp of worry.

"But 4, we've never been outside by ourselves since the scientist released us and we encountered 5. Not to mention it is the dead of night outside." He pointed out, and I slowly let all of those facts sink in.

"Oh." I flashed, feeling defeated as I cowered back, fiddling with my hands.

"I just, really wanted for this to, you know…work. I just want them to be happy. So…so then maybe, all of us…we could all be happy, together." I randomly flashed looking away, not having the courage to face him. I kind of felt like I was rabbling and sounding like a complete baby, but I couldn't deny that all I was saying was true.

I knew, we were all safe now, after everything that happened, but I could feel like we all weren't. Together. Well, of course we were physically together, but we weren't really emotionally together. We weren't happily living together like, at least I felt we should be. I felt like we were all broken. With 7's many masks to hide behind, she feels so distant, and 9 seems so held back. And I feel like, that's driving us all apart, and I don't want that. I want us to live happily ever after, like in all those fairy tales I read. But whenever I think about that, I start to think I'm just a crazy hopeless little sack of…nothing. I only have so much hope. I want to do something about this. No, I **have** to do something. If not, I always feel like this empty hole is inside me, like I'm not part of a family. I don't know why I always think that, but something in me just tells me that we should all be a nice family. But I always feel so empty when I see plain in my face, everything that's going on these days that, we might never be. So I guess that's why I pretend. I pretend it's a fairy tale, and that everything will turn out ok in the end. And these past couple of days, I actually thought it might, with 9 and 7 and all….but I keep fearing if I do nothing, it might not. And now, it seems like I really _can't _do anything…

If I could, I would already be crying like humans do. I clutched myself tight, hopping that I could make the pain go away. I never tell 9 or 7, not even 3, anything about how I feel about this. I just don't have the courage to. And now, my lack of courage is holding me back from doing the one thing that might fix everything and…

I felt 3 give me a tight hug. I gladly accepted it, and tightly hugged him back. 3 has always been the braver out of the two of us. Maybe because he wants to be the protective brother or something, I don't know. But he's always there to comfort me. Actually, he's always there for me period. I guess that's why I almost always cower behind him. Because I know he'll always be there to protect me.

"4," he flashed as he pulled back.

"You know what, who says we can't go on a little adventure of our own! I think we should do this, not only because I know it means a lot to you, but also because it means a lot to me too. 9 and 7 deserve to be happy together, and we all deserve to be happy together." He finished flashing with a smile, and I knocked both of us over with the giant hug attack I unleashed on him. I would have cried out my thankfulness to him, but I was restricted to only light blinks due to lack of a voice box.

"Come on! Let's get going then!" I happily flashed and ran over to the make shift elevator, overjoyed. Once 3 stepped on and we reached the bottom, I quickly dashed far ahead off far ahead of him, until I slowly reached a halt by the front steps of the library. I took a step back in fear.

_So this is really it. We're going to do this…_ I thought, but tried to shove my fear aside and replaced it instead with joy. I hoped with all my mechanical heart that this would work. I patiently waited for 3's, not so distant sounding steps to come closer to me.

"4, you were running so fast…"3 flashed as he approached me.

"You didn't even give me enough time to grab a light."

"Oh, sorry 3." I blushed quite embarrassed by my over exuberance. But when I was about to suggest we go back for one, I quickly realized that would be stripping us of time. I looked up and saw the beautiful full moon that was out tonight. And then it hit me.

"Hey 3, why don't we let the moon be our guide?" I flashed.

I could see 3 examining the suggestion.

"Alight, not a bad idea 4." He flashed back, and took a brave jump down the first step.

I was a bit hesitant at first but I made my way down. When we made it all the way past the gate of the library, I shot of fear ran up and down my spine.

"Oh 3," I flashed in fear to him.

"We're really doing this aren't we?" After all I had thought and concluded, and all the determination and joy I had gathered, still couldn't hide the tiniest bit of fear I still had. I felt like a coward, but I quickly lightened up when I saw 3, reassuring yet also quite fearful smile. I guess I was still afraid this all might not work, and that I was still some crazy hopeless girl thinking she was in a fairytale, but with 3 by my side to reassure and protect me, I pushed myself forward.

We carefully made our way towards the scientists old crumbling house, we were still quite fearful of the outside, and sometimes needed to use some special techniques to double check we were still on the right course, (something 5 had thought us a **very** long time ago, but we both still remembered clearly.)

"I think we're coming up by the house." 3 flashed, as we slowly made our way closer, me clutching onto 3 and him making hesitant steps forward. When we were right at the front steps of the house, I shot my fist up in the air in silent victory and flashed to my brother,

"Yes! We made it!"

"I actually feel quite proud. I never thought we'd _**ever**_ make it this far all on our own!" 3 remarked triumphantly. Then we wasted no time, as we could see that night was fading as the moon began to get dimmer and dimmer, and we could sense that dawn was upon us, and helped each other climb the steps.

It was a horrid journey; we had just gone through to get here. We had to risk our safety by going out, every little noise spooking us, every shadow seemed to move. We felt as if there was still a beast out there, stalking our backs. Fear of getting lost was also adding to the many unsettleties we had. Not to mention this awful feeling I could tell, we both had, that we were betraying 7 in a way, by going out alone. She would have _**never**_ in a million years let us do this. It was defiance in a way, and we both felt pretty awful about it, but we bared though it all, and despite all this new found courage we had, we now stood completely still and cowered right at the front door of the house.

The door was open, and we could easily slip in, but the menacing darkness was squeezing out every bit of courage we had. I decided that darkness was my new number one fear. At least at the library we had candles, and holes in the ceiling to let light through. It's not so much the dark and blackness that scares me though. It's how it toys with your mind, how it makes you imagine horrible things that makes it so scary, how it can turn you against yourself and suffocate you with the shear madness of it all. I didn't even want to think about going in there. I looked away, and covered my face.

_I can't do this…_I thought. But the thought in the back of my mind kept tugging at me, kept supplying me with courage.

_You need to do this…for your family…_

Even though the fear was still overwhelming, I took a brave step forward, and peered in the black abyss of the house. I could hear 3's shaky footsteps come closer.

"Gee, it's kinda dark…." I flashed at him, trying to relieve the tension, hoping that he would notice my bad grammar and correct me, as if we were in a normal situation.

"You bring a light?" He asked, which made a whole new shock of fear run though me. 3 never uses such improper ways of speaking, not to mention ask a question that makes him sound like an idiot, because we both knew the answer to it. He must really be letting the fear get to him.

"No." I bluntly flashed turning back to face him. I decided to answer his question anyway. I sighed, and balled my fists up. _NO._ I thought again. _NO…_….

"NO." I flashed again, something in me told me I just couldn't keep cowering back in fear of everything. Especially now when it really counts.

"4? What's wrong?" 3 innocently flashed back.

"No 3. All we've been doing is cowering in fear all our lives. And now, when it's really important, we _still_ cower in fear. It has to stop. We have to take a stand." I still don't know what compelled me to say this. Maybe it was all those years of always being the weaker twin, I don't know. But I knew that what I flashed to my brother was true. And I could see he also knew. He didn't even say anything, he just slowly nodded his head with a serious look on his face, and we both went inside together.

"We still don't have a light source though." 3 flashed taking into account all the darkness engulfing us; I couldn't even see my own hand. But 3's little flashes fed light into the everlasting darkness, and sparked an idea in my brain.

"Silly 3, I _**am**_ a light source." I flashed at him, trying to regain my jolly mood, and quickly projected on an old video I randomly selected from my thoughts, which quickly set the dark house ablaze with light. I finally felt exasperated, and drained of energy, so I stopped; feeling on the verge of unconsciousness, but 3 quickly steadied me. I looked up to face him.

"Thanks 4, I quickly memorized the room while the projection played. This way, quickly." He flashed and helped me make my way with him towards a desk of some sort.

"I thought I saw something interesting up here, something that seemed to sway around here." 3 told me, as we carefully made our way on top of it, using what 3 said he saw was a chair to climb up.

Once we were safely on top, we quickly started feeling all around for, anything really. Then my hands came across the all too familiar texture of paper.

"Hey 3, I think I found something." I caught 3's attention and motioned for him to come closer.

"Mmm, paper." 3 pointed out, glad to come across a familiar object.

"I wonder what it says…" I flashed at him; I wanted to project something again so 3 could read it, but I still felt quite light headed from before.

And as if he could read my thoughts, he flashed at me,

"I have an idea, though I cannot project things like you can, I'll try and blink my lights as fast as I can, so you can have, at least enough light to read a small portion of it." The idea did kind of amuse me, but I liked it, so 3 started to blink away while I read as fast as possible.

"_I bought some more rose seeds today. Oh how my family loves roses. My wife loves how they seem to blockade themselves with those thorns, yet they are really just trying to protect the soft and gentleness the hold inside. My little twins love to find out more about them, and study more things about them so we can take better care of plants, and make them stronger. My other, older son loves to see them grow and prosper, always putting away his own time that he could be spending playing with his friends, to look after and care for them. My other daughter loves to help us plant them and care for them. Always insisting she take care of all the tough problems herself so we don't have to worry. And how she lights up when the roses she helps blossom in the springtime. I placed them in the greenhouse just behind the house, I can't wait to plant them. __**I**__ just happen to love them myself, because they remind me so much of my wonderful family…"_

And then everything faded back to darkness, that was all I had time to read. I looked over at 3, who clutched his head, probably dizzy from flashing his lights so much. I went over and helped steady him like he helped me.

"Are you alright 3?" I asked, concerned for my twin.

He shook his head, and looked up at me eagerly, and I realized he might need some time to rest his optics from so much flashing, so I tried to interpret what his eagerness was about. He then pointed towards the ground, where I had been reading.

"Oh the paper!" I flashed, and he nodded. The paper, it was very sad for me to read actually. It sounded like somebody's journal about their family. How sad that they might all be dead now. Then, I realized it could be the _scientist's_ journal given we _were_ in his house. Gosh did I feel smart right then. Regardless, I knew I didn't have the time to explain the whole thing to 3. I felt those chills that signaled that dawn was just about to take place, and I flashed to him.

"Let's just say, I know what we're going to send 9 and 7 to fetch for us today." 3 immediately looked interested. I gave him some of the information of my new scheme. But I placed a metal note, to tell him about the little journal entry paper I read in more detail later.

"I read there that the scientists may have some rose seeds in his greenhouse out back behind his house. Perhaps we could ask 9 and 7 to see if they can find some for a little experiment of ours." I mused, and 3 seemed to be into the idea. Of course, we'd have to perfect it, but later, right now we both knew we had to make our way back to the library as soon as possible.

We dashed as fast as we could though the emptiness, being afraid had slipped our thoughts as all we could think about was getting back before either 7 or 9 find our we are missing.

We thankfully reached the globe just as the first trickles of light, signifying it was now early morning shone through. I felt utterly exhausted. I didn't tell 3 this, but I didn't get a wink of sleep or rest all night. I was too busy worrying and thinking about the plan, but now, I'm glad I didn't. If I had, then everything might have not worked. Now, as I collapse on top of a book, and let my optics slide shut, I drift into sleep not having to worry about how I might just be a hopeless little girl who believes in fairytales and how everything I try to do falls apart.

"Rest well 4…." I see 3 flash gently at me and I smile and fall into a deep sleep.

Because now, I actually have some hope…..

**A/N: Once again please review, and forgive my extremely long absence. Hopefully I'll make up for it in the next FLUFFY chapter. *giggles* And don't forget! You can put your own little shout out in the next chapter if you can tell me where the HOTEL MARIO quote is. Thanks for reading. ^^**


End file.
